Stargate: Return of the Ancients, Season 1, Ep 8
by Aer-ki Jyr
Summary: Episode, "War of the Gods"
1. Chapter 1

Dr. Weir sat in front of the Ancient console that served her as a desk in the small room that she'd chosen for an office in the Ancient outpost beneath Atlantis. The floating chair upon which she sat bobbed gently under her weight as she leaned back and blew out a tired breath.

What had originally been a boring babysitting operation on the planet's surface had quickly escalated into a full blown administrative endeavor. The growth of the surface facilities was continually increasing as they brought more natural resources into the fold and had even gone so far as to necessitate clearing away more ice from around Atlantis. As the city sat now, the vertical 'cone' that had blocked lateral view had been shaven back to a very low angle and enlarged to nearly a three kilometer radius out from the shield perimeter.

Over fifty buildings extended beyond the central outpost, most of which appeared in daylight, as opposed to those whose 'sky' was the underside of the city. All of the structures were interconnected by transparent surface tubes that kept out the chill of the ice world's atmosphere where they extended beyond the city's ventral shield. Inside the city the air temperature was a balmy, windless 73 F, but outside the shield the winds were howling at an average of -20 F. Without the constant presence of the shield, Atlantis's exterior would freeze over within hours.

Which was why the surface facilities had to be built to withstand the cold on their own. Weir had come to think of the interconnecting tunnels as spider webs, and week by week that web grew increasingly larger. So much so that she was actually busy managing the resource collecting, processing, and distribution operations that made up Hoth's 'mining' infrastructure. And in addition to the additional facilities that Weir was having built to expand their powerbase, Stevenson had also ordered several other non-related structures built…all in all Elizabeth had her hands full, and she was loving every minute of it.

The door to her office hissed open behind her. She turned around just in time to see Stevenson walk through.

"Ah, Ryan, just the person I wanted to see," she said, spinning her hovering chair around with a datapad in her hand. "The replicators have just finished the excavation on the drone production site. They're scheduled to begin construction the day after tomorrow."

Stevenson nodded. "_Good, but that's not what I came to talk to you about_," he said in Ancient. Though he spoke in English, Goa'uld, Nox, or whatever other languages he needed at the time, he still reverted back to his native tongue whenever convenient.

"_Oh?_" Elizabeth asked, taking his cue and changing languages.

"_I checked the attendance logs for the recreation areas_," he said, unimpressed.

"_Oh…right_," Elizabeth confirmed with a slow nod of her head, knowing quite well what he was referring to.

"_Why haven't you been training?_"

"_I have, from time to time_," she said evasively. "_When I need to clear my head I've been walking laps around the complex, and given the amount of figures I'm having to deal with that's been more often than not…_"

"_That's not good enough_," Stevenson lightly reprimanded her as he held a small device over her head. "_Stand up_."

"_Alright_," she said reluctantly. He'd warned her that she might have some difficulty adjusting to her clone body if she didn't make an effort to explore and expand her physical abilities. To date she'd done very little exploring, and the only expansion had been half a centimeter to her waistline.

Stevenson ran the device up and down her height twice, then stepped back to review the results.

"_How much trouble am I in?_" she asked playfully.

Stevenson raised an eyebrow in her direction. "_Why?_" he asked forcefully.

Elizabeth frowned, glancing at the floor. "_I'm just not a very physical person_," she explained."_It's not that I'm opposed to it, I just don't see the urgent need so long as I don't get out of shape_."

"_Shape?_" Stevenson asked sarcastically. "_You can always make improvements…and compared to some you're downright flabby_."

"Uh…" she uttered, her jaw visibly dropping. "_That's hardly a nice thing to say_."

"_I wasn't going for nice_," he said, eyeing her.

She glanced down at the medical scanner in his hand. "_How bad am I?_"

"_Not too bad_," Stevenson admitted. "_Minor degeneration along neural pathways, coupled with a 6% reduction in cellular growth. Immune system running 12% above average to compensate for rejected cellular tissue. Overall fat cell count up 3%..._"

"_Alright_," she interrupted, holding up her hands for emphasis. "_I get the picture. I'm a little off where I should be_."

"_That's easily correctable, Elizabeth. The problem is your current trend. You're losing ground with every second that passes. If your trend were positive, even minutely so, your lifestyle wouldn't be a problem. But if you don't at least try to increase your fitness trend you'll never get anywhere. That's the real problem_."

Weir sighed. "_And how long will that take me?_"

"_Years…months…depends on your progress_," Stevenson told her. "_And even then you have to make occasional adjustments. Bottom line is you can never 'maintain' your fitness. You either are increasing it or decreasing it…and right now you're decreasing. And for you, with a newly cloned body, that's more of a concern than for others_."

"_Maybe I need a training partner_," Elizabeth relented. "_Someone who can keep me focused on…_"

"_No_," Stevenson said emphatically. "_You have to learn to do this on your own_."

"_Why?_" she asked, thoroughly confused.

Stevenson shook his head. "_There's no way for me to explain it given your lack of prerequisite knowledge_."

"_Meaning what?_"

Stevenson placed a hand on her shoulder. "_Some things you have to learn on your own_."

"_Trust you know what you're talking about_," Elizabeth translated, "_and get my fat butt in gear?_"

"_More or less_," Stevenson agreed. "_Though your butt's not actually fat. In fact, Sheppard thinks it's rather cute_."

"_Really?_" Elizabeth asked curiously. "_He said that?_"

"_No…but I caught him thinking it a couple of times_."

Elizabeth considered that. "_I guess you get to see a lot of people's thoughts, being telepathic and all. How did the Ancients tolerate the lack of privacy?_"

Stevenson smiled. "_It's simple. We just block everyone else out, aside from those we choose to let in. Humans just don't know how to do it_."

"_Hmmn, I don't suppose you could teach me how? I don't really care to have every random thought in public view_."

"_Oh, so you want me to help you upgrade your mind?_" he said slowly, laced with implications.

Elizabeth smiled in quiet surrender. "_If I'm going to upgrade my mind, why don't I also want to upgrade my body?_"

Stevenson didn't say anything…he just winked at her.

"_Alright…if I succeed in upgrading my body first, will you help me learn to shield my mind?_"

"_We can do both at the same time_," Stevenson offered. "_Just so long as you don't renege on your half of the deal._"

Elizabeth raised her hand. "_I promise_."

"_Good_," Stevenson said, cracking a smile. "_Because if you did, I'd have to retrieve one of the developmental pictures of your clone body and send it to Sheppard…one taken from the backside_."

Elizabeth's eyes widened. "_You wouldn't dare_."

"_Oh, I would. But then again you don't have anything to worry about, do you? After all you promised, and you wouldn't be thinking about breaking your promise, would you?_"

Elizabeth swallowed hard, seeing in Stevenson's eyes that he knew that she wasn't serious about doing any hard training…just something light and temporary to satisfy him enough to get off her back. Now she knew she wasn't going to have much of a choice but to dive in head first…and she knew that he knew that she knew it.

"_Are all Ancients this comfortable with blackmail?_" she asked sarcastically.

Stevenson smiled lightly but whatever he was going to say in response was cut off by a tone on his wrist-mounted communicator. He touched a button.

"Stevenson here."

"This is Devonshire in the gate room…long range sensors have picked up a fleet of ships heading our way. I would have called for Colonel Sheppard but he's offworld at the moment."

"How many?" Stevenson asked, with an odd look on his face.

"Hard to say," Devonshire said, hesitating. "Looks like at least fifty."

"Fifty!" Elizabeth said in shock.

"You can relax, Lieutenant," Stevenson said calmly. "They're still a long way off…and they're friendlies."

"Friendlies?" Devonshire asked. "Are you sure?"

"Positive," he said, his finger hovering over his communicator. "Stevenson out."

"Who are they?" Elizabeth asked.

"New allies," he answered cryptically.


	2. Chapter 2

"How do you know who they are?" Sheppard asked, standing next to Stevenson in the control room as they watched the city's sensors as the fleet of ships approached the system.

"Because I invited them," he confessed.

"Invited who?" Sheppard asked warily.

"Some old friends of yours," he said, not quite answering him.

"Why does everything have to be a mystery with you?" Sheppard complained.

"Would you prefer I kept you completely in the dark?" he countered sarcastically.

"No," Sheppard said simply as he saw the ships begin to exit hyperspace on Atlantis's short range sensors. "Wait a minute…I've seen those ships before."

Before he could say anything else a comm channel opened with a familiar voice. "Atlantis, we're here. Do you have a preferred orbit for us to settle into?"

"Larrin?" Sheppard asked aloud.

"Sheppard, is that you?" her voice asked back.

"Yes it is," he answered tentatively. "What are you doing here?"

"Your Ancient kept you out of the loop…that's interesting."

"That's one word for it," Sheppard said, glaring at Stevenson. "What's going on?"

"Looks like I'm going to make your day, Sheppard."

"You'll excuse me if that doesn't quite fill me with confidence, given our past…interactions. Though I will admit that I'm a bit curious as to what you think will 'make my day.'"

"You're not still holding a grudge from the time I beat you up, are you?"

"Had me beat up," Sheppard corrected. "And I just might."

"Huh, well that's too bad. Anyway, as long as Stevenson keeps his promises, it seems you and I are going to become allies after all."

"Well, I knew you'd warm up to me eventually," Sheppard said, covering his surprise.

"Commander Larrin," Stevenson interrupted. "Geosync orbit will be fine. I'll meet you and your senior Captains in Atlantis as soon as we can arrange transit. I would like to send my inspectors onboard as soon as possible, with your permission."

"That'll be fine, Atlantis."

"They're replicators…if that makes a difference."

There was a long pause before she answered. "I trust you keep them on a short leash?"

"They're tools I created, nothing more. You needn't worry."

"I'll hold you to that, Stevenson," she warned him. "Send them up at your convenience."

"Estimate no more than half an hour. Atlantis out."

* * *

"We can accommodate eight of your ships at once," Stevenson explained to the seven ship Captains gathered around the Atlantis conference room table. "Finish time will vary on the current and proposed configurations of your ships, but I estimate we can service your assembled fleet within six months."

Larrin and the other Captains exchanged looks, but it was her that spoke for them all. "We didn't bring all our ships…the others are still conducting business as usual, spread out across the galaxy. Those that we brought here make up about a third of our combined fleet."

"We can accommodate the rest of them at a later date," Stevenson offered. "All they have to do is show up here and get in line. That is, assuming they're all onboard."

"Not all are," Larrin said reservedly. "Some of them decided to keep away, waiting to see whether or not this was some sort of trap."

"I see," Stevenson said evenly. "Their caution is understandable. However, I don't want any ship upgrades passed on to others who didn't sign on. Is that understood?"

Again, the various Captains glanced at each other…and again it was Larrin that spoke for them. "Fair enough. I suppose you also don't want us trading away any new technology that you give us?"

"That goes without saying."

Larrin nodded. "We can abide by that…so long as you hold up your end of the deal."

"You'll get your mothership…so long as you follow the Charter."

"As big as a Hive ship?" she asked.

He nodded.

"And it'll have the ability to produce other ships?"

"It will."

"And other mother ships?" Larrin pressed.

Stevenson hesitated. "It will possess that function, but in order to accomplish such a build it will have to be immobilized. You won't be able to jump into hyperspace."

Larrin nodded in understanding…or comprehension at least. "Where do you expect us to get the resources to build new ships?"

Stevenson smiled. "The first item on your to-do list actually serves a dual purpose. Once your ships are outfitted with an enhanced sensor package, I want you to start surveying systems without stargates. I have a priority list for you to start working through, with 10,000 year old data that needs updating. I'll build several outposts to collect resources toward the construction of your mothership. Once it is completed, I will turn possession of those sites over to you for your future use."

Larrin's eyes narrowed. "How many sites?"

"Minimum of twenty," Stevenson told her.

More looks crossed between the Captains.

"Are these outposts going to be the same design as this planet's surface base?"

Stevenson shook his head. "No, it'll be a less advanced design specifically built for resource gathering."

Larrin thought for a moment. "Will we be able to build others on our own if we want to expand the number of our ground bases?"

"The designs that I'll be giving you will be modular," Stevenson explained. "You'll be able to create the outposts and auxiliary facilities in your mothership's onboard shipyard and land them on the surface using a specialized transport ship that you'll also be able to produce. It will take time and effort on your part to build a lot of these things, but I'll provide you with designs for every type of structure and ship that you'll need to become fully self-sufficient."

Larrin nodded agreeably. "Sounds good…how soon do you see us going into battle against the Wraith?"

"Hopefully not at all," Stevenson said, pulling back a bit from his earlier requirements. "I will take the fight to the Wraith with our own ships once they're built…but until then I need your fleet for strategic operations, specifically the movement of indigenous populations to a number of sanctuary worlds that I'm in the process of setting up. I'm not asking you to go hunting for the Wraith, but there is a good chance that you'll cross paths with them at some point."

"I'm sorry," Larrin said, confused. "I thought you wanted us to kill Wraith for you?"

"I'm not opposed to that," Stevenson clarified. "But even with the upgrades I'm providing you the Wraith Hive ships are beyond your reach. With numbers you'll be able to chew up their smaller vessels, but the biomatter construction of their ships takes a lot of effort to destroy…time that they will use to take out at least some of your ships. I don't want you engaging them in that type of a scenario. Be devious. Hit, run, hide, hit again. Don't put yourself in a situation where they're going to be able to beat your shields down."

Finally one of the other Captains spoke. "Now it sounds like you do want us attacking the Wraith. Which is it?"

Stevenson stood up behind the conference table and leaned forward, placing his hands on the tabletop and getting a bit closer to the others. His eyes stayed on the Captain to his right who had asked the question.

"Right now, the Wraith probably don't know of my existence. We destroyed a hive ship and its escorts, and during the battle they had sufficient time to communicate our existence to the others. We don't know if they did or not. If they did, their lack of a reaction could be due to Atlantis's undisclosed location. When I finally begin to take the fight to them, I will allow them to locate Atlantis in order to draw them to the city where I can use its weaponry against them."

"When that happens," he continued, "the war that ended 10,000 years ago will resume, and it will spread across the galaxy. It is then that I see your ships coming into battle against the Wraith, probably in situations of self-defense or in the defense of ground targets. I do not want you or any other Captain taking the fight to the Wraith on your own. Only do so in support of my fleet or in times of absolute need. You need to preserve yourselves in order to be of any use to me."

"That's something we've been doing for centuries," Larrin added. "We know how to keep our heads down. We just don't understand how our limited use is worth your offer of a mothership…especially if you don't intend for us to fight against the Wraith on a regular basis?"

"As we discussed earlier, your people are far more technologically adept than most of the indigenous populations in this galaxy. As you've probably already heard through other sources, we're recruiting Pegasus natives to build a force to fight against the Wraith. You can imagine the difficulties I'd have if I tried to put hunters and farmers in command of starships."

"Then you want some of our people to sign on with you?" Larrin asked.

"It is not a requirement," he countered, "but I am making that option available to any of your people…especially your engineers. Also, if any of you have a desire to get some payback against the Wraith, I'd prefer if you did it on my ships rather than put your own at risk."

The Captains exchanged glances again. "I can think of several Captains who would be inclined to accept that offer," Larrin said slowly. "Myself included…so long as our people are taken care of first."

"They will be…and your people will be first in line for naval positions once we get our first few ships built," he said as another thought hit him. "However, if you're looking to sign up now, Larrin, I do have one _Aurora_-class warship available for you to command. At the moment I've been using it primary as a means of transit, but it's fully equipped to fight if need be."

Larrin smiled. "You make a tempting offer. Let me sleep on it."

Stevenson nodded. "Choose which of your ships you want modified first and land them at your convenience. If you have business elsewhere you can come and go as you please, just be careful not to let the Wraith track you back here. I don't want to draw their attention just yet."

"As long as you remain in this system you are under my protection. Atlantis will defend you if the Wraith should follow you here, and I can guarantee you the city is more than a match for their Hive ships. It survived their combined onslaught 10,000 years ago and after a few minor repairs is once again fully operational. As it is, this is the safest world in the galaxy…Wraith or no."

Larrin smiled, not in complete agreement. "You'll forgive us if we don't want to completely abandon the wilds of deep space. It has served us well in the past, and we're not about to completely change our ways."

Stevenson nodded. "And I'm not asking you to. Just letting you know you have a safe haven to fall back on if things take a turn for the worse. Are there any other questions?"

Larrin looked around. "We're good…for now."

The conference room doors opened on Stevenson's mental command. Sheppard was waiting outside. Stevenson left the room, patting him on the shoulder in a 'tag' motion as he went.

"I see you've made a new friend," Larrin commented.

"Depends on the day," Sheppard said, taking a moment to look her over. "You need a lift back to your ship?"

Larrin glanced to her left. "Not yet. We're going to have a look around the city first."

"Well, just let me know when you want to go back. Stevenson's assigned me as your designated driver until you get ring systems installed on your ships."

"Assigned?" she asked doubtfully. "Or volunteered?"

Sheppard shrugged. "You know me…always willing to offer a helping hand."

Larrin raised an eyebrow. "Really…well, how about you showing me around that Ancient warship of yours?"

"Not much different than the one you had," Sheppard said out of reflex before he realized what he was turning down. "Then again, I wouldn't mind a walk."

"I'm sure you wouldn't," she remarked. "I just want to check out the ship before I give your Ancient an answer."

"Answer to what?"

"He offered me command."

"Of the _Tria_?"

"He didn't give a name, he just said it was the one ship he had at present."

"Really…" Sheppard said in shock. "He didn't say anything to me."

"Why would he?"

"Well, I've flown the ship before…"

Larrin laughed. "Is he offering me your ship?"

"Well, no…" Sheppard stammered. "It's just that…oh, forget it. The important thing is that we're going to be allies, right."

Larrin couldn't stop smiling. "Now," she said, forcefully taking him by the arm. "Show me to _my_ new ship."

Sheppard half grimaced, but he didn't object. They walked arm in arm all the way out to the _Tria_…with Larrin half dragging him along the way.


	3. Chapter 3

Stevenson sat in the center of his personal quarters on the end of a low bed. His legs were crossed, arms relaxed, and eyes closed amidst his Spartan surroundings. He'd done away with all the Lantean decorations and returned his personal space to the simplified functionality that Alterrans preferred. In one of his few moments of retrospection, he couldn't believe how he'd ever tolerated the clutter of typical Human apartments…even when he'd been one of them.

Stevenson quickly noted it as another example of the differences between the races, despite their similarity in appearance, and returned his thoughts to the twelve objects orbiting around his head.

"Enter," he said to the person he sensed outside his quarters.

The doors slid apart and Dr. Jackson tentatively walked in.

"Hello, Daniel," Stevenson greeted him, his eyes still closed.

"Ah, hi," he said hesitantly, his attention caught on the floating chairs, datapads, jewelry, and other odds and ends moving around the room. "Maybe now is a bad time. I can come back later," he offered, turning around.

"Sit down," Stevenson said, lowering one of the two chairs towards him. "I can multitask well enough. However, I won't be able to read the questions burning in your mind directly, so we'll have to rely entirely on vocal communication. My thoughts are a bit preoccupied at the moment."

"I can see that," Daniel said, walking further into the room and sitting down as the doors closed behind him.

"What's on your mind?" Stevenson asked.

"Well, I was going to ask you a question that I've been meaning to ask you ever since I came to Atlantis," he said, still watching the orbiting objects, "but first I've got to ask…what exactly are you doing?"

Stevenson's face remained impassive. "The development of all skills requires training…telekinesis is no exception. But in my case such drills serve a dual purpose. My body remains in a state of hyper stimulation, and as such I carry with me a constant amount of internal instability. Levitating these objects helps me bleed of some of that instability."

Daniel blinked. "You're still changing?"

"Yes…the Alterra who built the Repository of Knowledge wanted a mature Alterra to rebuild their civilization, not an infant. This transformation will last approximately ten years, depending on how I progress, and will result in the development of a body and mind equivalent to a typical 10,000 year old Alterra."

Daniel's jaw dropped. "I had no idea."

"Nor should you have."

"Well, at least I think I can understand your need to bleed off instability through physical manipulation. We saw the same thing with a young girl named Cassandra. She had been genetically altered by the Goa'uld to develop at an accelerated rate in order to give them a hak'tar for a host. Fortunately, we found the Goa'uld responsible and convinced her to undo what she had done, but in order to buy herself time before that happened, Cassandra levitated a chess piece and spun it about in the air. She claimed it helped make her feel better."

"Before my time, Daniel, but your analogy is apt…save for the fact that her development at the hands of a Goa'uld was probably crude and random whereas mine is pinpoint accurate."

"Probably," Daniel offered. "I fail to see the difference."

"Because my transformation is geared to end at a specific, predetermined genetic profile I can be put under greater stress and still survive, whereas with a random acceleration of the genome you must account for the unexpected with a slower rate of change."

"Yeah, I doubt the Goa'uld went with that approach," Daniel said, thinking back to his days with SG-1. "They probably just went with the shotgun method, happy if just one out of hundreds survived."

"The unscrupulous do have their advantages," Stevenson commented, his stature unchanged. "What was the question you meant to ask me earlier?"

"Ah, yes," he said, leaning forward a bit. "Do you know what the Clava Thessara Infinitas is?"

Stevenson finally opened his eyes. "That's not supposed to be in the city database."

Daniel's eyes widened with glee. "Then it's real? You know what it is?"

"Where did you hear of it?" he asked, ignoring Daniel's other questions.

"It's a legend I came across in my studies. It's supposed to be an Ancient storehouse of riches, and it was something that the Goa'uld Athena was rumored to have been searching for. Some thought it was purely a myth, but if you know what it is…"

"Clava Thessara Infinitas?" Stevenson asked slowly. "The key to infinite treasure."

"Yes," Daniel said nodding.

Stevenson smiled gently, but the orbiting halo didn't falter. "I suppose one could call it that. It's one of our closest guarded secrets…not even all the Alterra knew of its existence."

"But you know?" he asked.

"Yes," Stevenson answered simply.

"And?" Daniel emphasized.

"Maybe someday I'll show it to you, but today is not that day."

"Oh come on," Daniel said exasperated. "You're really going to let me get this close then hold out on me?"

"It's a thought," Stevenson said sarcastically, then decided to throw him a bone. "By the way, you have the pronunciation wrong. It's Cla-Va-The-Sa-Ra-En-Fin-At-Es."

"Cla…At?" Daniel said, quickly counting symbols. "That's a 9 symbol stargate address dialed from Earth, isn't it?"

"No."

"No?" Daniel asked, confused.

"Addresses can be dialed from anywhere."

"But 'At' is Earth's point of origin," Daniel argued.

"On a stargate that the Goa'uld brought to Avalon?" Stevenson countered.

Daniel was caught speechless for a moment. "Good point."

"The syllable 'AT' means a generic locator."

"So 'AT' really means any point of origin, not just Ear…Avalon's?"

"Yes."

"Then the address is a gate jump?" Daniel asked, working it through in his head. "Since the point of origin is second to last."

"Yes," Stevenson said again, his choice of vocabular diversity being slightly affected by his continuing concentration.

"You said earlier that the 8th chevron dials other galaxies, right."

"Yes."

"And the symbols on the stargate…they can't be repeated in an address?"

"Correct."

"Then how do you dial another galaxy when that galaxy's dialing symbol is already present in the six symbol address of the planet in question?"

"It seems you've been doing your homework, Dr. Jackson."

Daniel inclined his head slightly. "Yeah, well, Sam and I had several conversations concerning the subject."

"Sam?" Stevenson asked.

"I'm sorry. Colonel Samantha Carter."

"Each galaxy in the network isn't assigned a symbol. It's assigned a number. For example, Pegasus is number 14."

"But not the 14th symbol?" Daniel asked.

"14th available symbol," Stevenson corrected him.

"Available symbol?" Daniel asked again, not catching on.

"Starting with the locator, move clockwise around the symbol on the gate, not the dialing device. The 14th available symbol not already used in the planetary address is used to reach that planetary address within Pegasus."

"That's so simple," Daniel commented. "I can't believe I didn't see it before," he said as his thoughts continued on. "Then the gate jump symbols are numbered the same way?"

"Yes. Red gates are the first available symbol clockwise of the locator. Pegasus gates, once I reconfigure the system, will be the seventh available symbol."

"Wait a minute," Daniel said as another thought struck him. "Didn't you say that the Pegasus galaxy was added to the gate network last of all the Ancients' galaxies."

"Yes."

"And there are 23 galaxies, right?"

"Yes."

"Then why is Pegasus number 14 instead of number 23?"

"The galaxies are numbered in the order in which they were surveyed by the Alterra when they originally left Destra, known to you as the Ori galaxy. They spent 3,472 years putting distance between themselves and the Ori and surveying 32 galaxies, before finally settling in Avalona."

"Thirty two galaxies," Daniel said, doing the math, "plus six for the address and one for the point of origin…makes 39 symbols on the stargate."

Stevenson smiled. "Very good, Daniel."

"So you assigned a symbol for each galaxy surveyed, just in case you ever wanted to extend the gate network there?"

"Yes."

"What if you wanted to expand beyond those 32?"

"That was deemed unlikely. Never the less, we designed the stargate to accommodate additional galaxies should we choose to add any above and beyond the original 32 surveyed. The 9th chevron, when used before the locator, can select a different group of galaxies to choose from, using the original 32 options. This gives us the possibility of expanding the gate network into 992 galaxies without having to build or redesign the existing gates…and there was zero chance of us ever expanding that far."

"Amazing…" Daniel said. "But then, why do the Pegasus gates have 36 symbols instead of 39? Doesn't that mess up the system?"

"It does," Stevenson said frustratingly. "We didn't build the Pegasus gates. The Lanteans did, and they were under strict orders not to leave the galaxy for fear of them contracting the plague. We instructed them to build stargates on a specific frequency, one that wouldn't connect to the rest of the gate network. Knowing this, they didn't feel it was necessary to match their gates up to the rest of the network. Why they chose 36 symbols instead of 39 is not mentioned in the city database, which is my only source of information on the subject. The Repository of Knowledge was completed before the Pegasus gates were built."

"So how does that affect intergalactic dialing from Pegasus?" Daniel asked.

"It means that you can't dial an address from Pegasus that requires symbols 36, 37, or 38 without a specialized interface. The inner workings of the Pegasus gate network are clone copies of the originals. The Lanteans only changed the auxiliary systems to their liking. It takes a bit of work, but fortunately the Pegasus gates are salvageable. I won't have to replace them with new ones."

"Wow…hadn't thought about that. Are you counting the point of origin as symbol 1 or 39?"

"Neither. It is simply designated as the locator."

"Hmmn…I really don't know why I didn't ask you about this before," Daniel said offhand. "Too bad you weren't around 15 years ago to help us figure out the gate from the beginning."

"I was twelve," Stevenson told him, "I wouldn't have survived the conversion."

"Right…that wasn't quite what I meant."

"I sense that was not your only question, nor your real reason for coming to speak with me," Stevenson said, changing the subject.

"No, it wasn't," Daniel said, growing a bit more serious. "I want you to know I mean no offense when asking this…I know you set up some sort of arrangement with Bra'tac, he told me as much when he came here, but I didn't have a chance to dig out any details. And now with the deal you've supposedly offered the Travelers…it looks, on the surface, like you're setting up some kind of Empire."

"A crude, yet adequately accurate analysis," Stevenson said, partially agreeing with him.

"I'm sorry," Daniel said, taken aback by his admission. "I thought the Ancients were more democratic than that?"

"What led you to that assumption?"

"Well, for starters, what little I know of the ways of ascended beings, there is some form of consensus required for certain actions to take place."

As soon as he said the phrase 'ascended beings' Daniel noticed the orbital rates of the objects accelerate slightly.

"They are not Alterra anymore," Stevenson said sharply, leaving no room for argument. "Do not construe their methods with our own."

Daniel raised his hands in front of him. "Ok, sensitive subject there…I didn't mean to offend you, if that's what I actually did."

"You concern yourself too much with offense and the feelings of others. Focus your attention on the truth, however pleasant or painful it might be."

"Alright," Daniel said tentatively. "In that case…are you out of your mind?"

Stevenson's stare hardened a bit. "Explain."

"The bits and pieces I've put together of what you're doing sounds more like something a Goa'uld would do than what I've come to know of the Ancients. How can you choose autocratic rule over democracy?"

"Is that what I'm doing?" Stevenson asked curiously.

"I don't know what you're doing, but to be honest it's starting to scare me."

"I suppose you wouldn't consider my reestablishment of the System Lords as a positive step forward either?"

"What?!" Daniel half yelled.

"I made Bra'tac the first of the new System Lords and I brought him here because I needed him to know how to speak Lingara as well as become familiar with the basic operations of our technology in order to fully assimilate into the position. I didn't realize you'd spoken with him while he was here."

"And Bra'tac agreed to this?" Daniel asked in disbelief.

"It took some convincing, but eventually he understood the need for a more cohesive bond between the Jaffa than democracy would allow."

"And that bond being what?"

"Service to the Alterra," Stevenson said as if such a thing were commonplace.

Daniel went slack-jawed. "So they go from being slaves of the Goa'uld to being slaves of the Ancients. I don't really see that as much of an improvement."

"Not slaves, Dr. Jackson. They do so by choice, and in exchange we enhance their lives. This is no different than we have done for other races in the past, most notably the Asgard and the Furlings."

"What?" Daniel said, still not believing what he was hearing. "I thought the Asgard were your allies…your peers?"

"They became so after a long period of time. In the beginning they were a young race that benefitted greatly from our guidance."

"Yeah…but you don't need service in order to offer guidance."

"Service to the Alterra provides a societal purpose and chain of command that stabilizes a civilization as it develops. Democracy, as you obviously favor, is not a new concept. It has been used in many forms by many races at some point or another in their development. In the end, the more advanced races always abandon such naïve forms of societal structure."

"Naïve?" Daniel asked/complained.

"And ineffective. In order to establish an effective structure you must have stable leadership. Democracy doesn't allow for that, and will, in some forms, remove a capable leader in favor of a lesser individual simply because they deem their 'turn' to be up. Can you not see how naïve an approach this is?"

"Absolute power corrupts absolutely," Daniel repeated the old saying. "I've seen it time and again with the Goa'uld. I've seen it happen to myself in a virtual simulation. The turnover of leaders insures that no one individual gets the opportunity to become a tyrant."

"Power doesn't create tyrants…corruption does. And like it or not, democracies are usually rife with corruption…with a few exceptions. Avalon not included."

"It's the best we have been able to do," Daniel argued. "Would really have us step backwards?"

"No," Stevenson said dismissively. "Just accept the fact that the lesser races aren't at the pinnacle of social development, and are therefore incapable of implementing the social structures of the more advanced races."

"What's the difference for the advanced races? How does Ancient society really work anyway?"

"Alterran society," Stevenson corrected him again, "is structured around the basic principle that all Alterrans are brothers working together for the common good."

"Sounds like an idealistic form of democracy to me," Daniel interjected.

"No," Stevenson said emphatically. "We know better than to ask people what to do in a subject area outside their expertise. For example, if I needed to know the best way to augment a hyperdrive to resist the oscillating radiation currents near a galactic core, would your option be of any value to me?"

"I see where you're going with this," Daniel said, avoiding the question. "You're saying that by letting all people vote on things they have no knowledge about is folly, and I agree. But we don't vote on everything, we elect leaders who do that."

"And what makes a good leader?" Stevenson countered. "Is it always visible on the surface? Is it always public knowledge? How do you know if a person is an expert in a certain field if you are not an expert in that field? I could tell you many things about technology that were false, but you would not know the difference because you do not have the prerequisite knowledge. In such circumstances, what is the point of voting on matters you know nothing about? Especially when leaders need to make decisions that are not always popular. Time and time again we've seen the masses favor those that promise the things they want, regardless of whether or not that is the best course of action."

Daniel nodded. "Yes, democracy isn't perfect. But using a more rigid form of government is too dangerous. You get the wrong people in power and it is very difficult to get them out of power…outside of a democratic system that periodically has to reelect its leaders."

"Your point of view is valid for the lesser races, where corruption and greed run rampant, but it is not the same for others. Alterrans exercise their power in their individual niches and leave all other aspects of our society to those with the applicable knowledge. We do not have any one individual or counsel that rules over all. We share duties and leadership based on our abilities in order to maximize efficiency. We don't fear our own people…and we don't tolerate corruption on any level. Voting is an outdated, ineffective, and quite frankly, childish notion."

"Even if that is true for the more advanced races," Daniel argued, "what would you have us 'lesser races' do?"

"By serving the Alterra, you take away the possibility of the tyrant that you fear so much. With the uppermost leadership posts inaccessible to the individuals of the lesser race, it is impossible for corruption to stem from the top on down…and any instances of lower level corruption can always be reported up through the command structure. If they get high enough, then we will take notice and correct the situation. In this way, the lower tiers in the command structure can't be bullied into submission as easily with the knowledge that they can always go over the heads of those trying to coerce them."

Daniel considered that for a moment. "So by having lesser races serve you, you're saying you're actually doing them a favor?"

"Have you seen Star Wars?" Stevenson asked, seeming to change the subject.

"Which one?" Daniel remarked, almost sarcastically.

"The first three."

"The first three made, or episodes one through three?" he asked, definitely sarcastic this time.

"Episodes one through three," Stevenson said, ignoring his tone. "Are you familiar with how the Jedi Order trains their younger members."

"Forgive me, but I'm not that big of a scifi fan…but if memory serves they're taken away from their parents and trained from birth."

"Yes, but I was referring to their older students."

Daniel searched his memories. "Not off the top of my head."

"They use a system of Master and Apprentice. The Alterra do the same with the lesser races. We did so with the Asgard until they had progressed far enough to become our peers...well, lesser peers, but we interacted with them on an equal level. Same for the Furlings and others."

"And the Nox?" Daniel guessed.

"No," Stevenson admitted. "They were in Avalona before the first Alterrans arrived. They were peers from the beginning."

"Interesting," Daniel said as his mind drifted elsewhere. "Still, you're putting a lot of faith in your own people."

"Should we do otherwise?" Stevenson asked.

"Surely not all of the Alterra were trustworthy? There had to be a bad egg every now and then."

"On occasion, yes," Stevenson admitted.

"So it's possible," Daniel urged, "that a tyrant could arise, even in an advanced society."

"Only if the bad eggs outnumber the good eggs," Stevenson said, using Daniel's metaphor. "And in our case, the numbers would be so far against them that they wouldn't stand a chance."

"But now you're changing individuals of lesser races into Alterra?" Daniel pointed out. "Doesn't that change things?"

"It just means I have to be very careful who I choose to become Alterra," Stevenson said as one of the objects spinning above his head began to flash with a blinking light.

Stevenson pulled it down into his hand and hit the activation button. The long range communication device displayed a text message as a hologram, with the Ancient symbols glowing blue between Stevenson and Daniel.

Suddenly Stevenson set all the moving objects down, back into their original, neat positions around the room. He slid the communications bracelet onto his wrist along with his ornamental jewelry.

"What is it?" Daniel asked. He couldn't make out most of the message, but got the feeling it was urgent.

"I'm needed on Dakara," Stevenson told him.

"Trouble?" Daniel asked, sliding his own chair out of the way. Stevenson telekinetically grabbed it and slid it back into its slot when Daniel let go.

"A minor technical problem that the replicators weren't programmed to handle. It isn't serious, but it'll hold up operations until I get it fixed," he said, glancing at Daniel and getting his first good read of his thoughts. "Seeing as how you're concerned with my intentions, how about you come along and speak to the Jaffa. I'm sure they can alleviate some of your concerns."

"It's not that I doubt your intentions," Daniel began, but was stopped by a knowing eyebrow from Stevenson. "Ok, so I have some doubts. But you have to understand that this is still all new to me. Very little information on Ancient…Alterran culture survived. I guess I just assumed you were democratic when I should have realized that you guys would have improved on societal structures as much as you did with technology."

"Apology accepted," Stevenson said sarcastically, knowing that wasn't exactly what Daniel had meant. "You coming?"

"Sure, why not." Daniel said, falling into step beside him as they headed for the gate.


	4. Chapter 4

Stevenson and Daniel stepped out of the Dakara stargate into the sights of fourteen staff-wielding Jaffa guards. As soon as they recognized the Alterran they raised their weapons and parted to either side, making way for him and Daniel to pass.

"I'll leave you here," Stevenson told Daniel. "I estimate this will take no longer than an hour."

"You find me or me find you?" Daniel asked.

"I'll find you," Stevenson told him before he walked off down the dirt trail toward the Ancient-style settlements and the partially constructed shipyard beyond.

Daniel glanced around at the Jaffa near the gate. "Hi there. My name is Daniel Jackson, and I was wondering if you wouldn't mind answering a few questions about everything going on here?" he said, motioning to the plethora of new buildings visible in the distance.

One of the larger guards stepped up to Jackson and stared him in the eye. "You travel with the Alterra?"

"Ah, yes. I travel with the Alterra," he answered hesitantly. "He brought me with him so I could inspect your operations here."

The guard stood a little straighter. "What do you wish to know?"

"Good…well, let's start with your rank and position here on Dakara."

* * *

Stevenson walked slowly, intending to give Daniel more time to talk with the Jaffa, but he seriously doubted the reprogramming would take very long. According to the message Bra'tac had sent him, the replicator engineers had stopped working when they encountered micro-fractures in the subsurface support grid that they hadn't been programmed to deal with.

It was an oversight on Stevenson's part, and probably not the last, given that the design of these replicators was his own and not a copy of the Lantean designs. These variants had a different physical construction as well as a different programming priority. They were dedicated engineers, designed to replace what normally would have been Alterrans…which Stevenson currently didn't have available for such tasks. He was going to have to make due with the machines for some time, and as a result he expected to have to make occasional upgrades to their programming as unforeseen complications arose.

Not that such things had been unanticipated. The shutdown was part of a preprogrammed procedure to minimize problems when something went amiss. The replicators hadn't been designed as troubleshooters. They were simply meant to carry out routine tasks within well established parameters. Stevenson had made those parameters as comprehensive as he could, but this little programming inadequacy served him as a reminder how much work it was going to take to rebuild the entire Alterran civilization.

Still, once he made this upgrade it would forever be included in their programming code and he wouldn't have to deal with it again. It was progress, albeit on a very minute scale, but it was something he could live with.

* * *

Stevenson let Daniel have a full two hours before tracking him down in one of the settlements. He'd eventually found Bra'tac and plied him with an unending stream of questions…but in the end he'd gotten the answers that he'd hoped he'd get. After all this time, the last thing Daniel wanted when he finally got to meet an Ancient was to have the misfortune of finding a tyrannical one.

"So," Stevenson said as they were walking back to the gate, "you still think I'm an Alterran version of Dr. Evil?"

Daniel couldn't help but laugh at that. "You know it's rather odd how you occasionally mix in Earth-based concepts with everything Ancient…but to answer your question, I think I owe you an apology. The Jaffa had nothing but high praise for what you've done here. I guess I let my Earth cultural bias affect my judgement, and that's usually something I work hard to avoid. I'm sorry," he said, extending his hand.

Stevenson took it. "Forget it. If you don't mind, I need to make another stop before we head back to Atlantis."

"Sure," Daniel said dismissively. "What's up?"

"I have another shipyard run by replicator engineers. I need to install this programming update to them as well."

Daniel frowned. "Won't the program transmit from these out to the rest of them?"

"No…they aren't interconnected by anything more than simple communications channels. I have to make the modifications to each one personally."

"Sounds rather inefficient," Daniel commented.

"Perhaps…but it keeps problems isolated to individual units and doesn't allow for the possibility of sabotage or program corruption spreading throughout a common network."

"Like what happened with the original replicators when we were able to temporarily freeze all of them by gaining access to only one."

"Exactly," Stevenson said as they approached the gate. The guards spread wide, giving them access to both the gate and the dialing device. "Cla," Stevenson said slowly as he touched the first symbol to get Daniel's attention. "Va, The, Sa, Ra, En, At, Es."

Daniel's eyes went wide with surprise. "Aren't you missing a syllable?" he asked as the DHD started to go haywire.

"It's in this galaxy," Stevenson explained as he entered the network jump code. "And don't bother trying to memorize the code…it randomizes each time," he said as all the DHD symbols illuminated simultaneously, indicating that the code had been accepted. Stevenson hit the center bubble on the dialing device.

The event horizon snapped into place and Stevenson led Daniel through the gate.

When they reached the other side Daniel's breath caught in his throat. He stood in an extremely large chamber next to multiple stargates with different colored chevrons. "Where are we?"

"The hub of the stargate network," Stevenson said as he turned and walked off toward the green gate. "The key to unlocking every gate on every network."

"The key to infinite treasure," Daniel whispered to himself as the chevrons on the green gate lit up…but he didn't see any DHD. "How are you dialing?"

"Mentally," Stevenson told him as the event horizon snapped into place.

Daniel glanced back at the still open yellow gate, then back at the equally active green gate. "Cool."

Stevenson stepped through without preamble and Daniel was quick to follow.

"Why didn't you say anything earlier…" he started to ask him about the gate center when his attention was torn away by the new view as they came out of the gate.

They stood inside another gigantic facility…directly in front of the ribs of a partially constructed starship.

As Daniel's jaw hung open a replicator approached them from the side.

"_Is there something you require?_"

"_Upload_," he ordered in Ancient.

The replicator held out her right hand, palm down.

Likewise, Stevenson held out a small tablet parallel to the ground and touched it to her palm. With the physical connection the programming upload was made instantaneously.

"_Recall the others in sequence, then return to prior tasks_."

"_Done_," she said, quietly walking off. In the distance Daniel could see others leaving their positions and walking towards them.

"What is this place?"

"It's one of the few surviving Alterran shipyards."

"Are we in space?"

"No, we're underground. Inside a moon, actually."

"I'm surprised the Goa'uld or someone else never found this place," Daniel commented, looking down the extremely long slip that held an equally long ribcage. The first of the engineers made their way to them, forming a line, and approached Stevenson one by one.

He reset the tablet and allowed the replicators to 'tag' it as they walked past at a rate of two every three seconds.

"There's no red gate in this system," Stevenson told him as he attended to the replicators, "and the moon is camouflaged. From the outside all your sensors will detect is a worthless piece of rock."

"Ingenious," Daniel commented, still looking over the pieces of the new ship. "How far away from Earth are we?"

Stevenson shook his head. "We left Avalona. We're now in Kestardra."

Daniel finally took his eyes off the ship. "We switched galaxies?"

"That's why we had to go through the hub," Stevenson explained as he serviced more replicators. "Without an override, the dialing devices won't provide enough power for an intergalactic connection…I believe astronomers back home call this the Andromeda galaxy."

"Andromeda…really?" Daniel asked, becoming more impressed by the minute. "But the stargate hub was in the Milky Way?"

"Avalona…yes."

"What makes it so special…besides the multiple gates?"

"It's the only location with direct access to all six networks…the ability to remote control all the gates…the ability to make new gates…the…"

"That's where you made the gates?" Daniel asked quickly.

Stevenson nodded. "Most of them, yes. Then we send them out through the purple gates by ship to wherever they're needed."

"Amazing," Daniel said, looking back at the ship under construction. He pointed up at it. "By the way…what are you building?"

"A _Columnar_-class warship."

"Columnar?" Daniel asked.

"It's a new design. This is the prototype."

"Is this what you're going to be building on Dakara too?"

"No. That shipyard is for the Jaffa. It won't be big enough to build Columnar…just large enough to produce the new H'tel."

"I assume that's some version of a Ha'tak?" Daniel asked.

"Not exactly," Stevenson said, finishing up with the last of the swiftly moving line of replicators. "They're a new design based on Alterran tech so that the Jaffa will have the muscle to help us defend Avalona."

"Defend it from what?" Daniel asked. "I know the Lucian Alliance and other small factions are still on the loose, but without the Goa'uld around I don't know of any real threats that Earth and its allies can't handle…unless you're referring to something extra-galactic like the Ori?"

Stevenson glared at him. "You think Avalona is safe?"

Daniel shrugged. "I don't know about safe…but what you're doing with the Jaffa seems a bit like overkill to me."

The last of the replicators in the line touched the tablet and received its programming upload. Stevenson locked down the tablet and telekinetically tugged Daniel back toward the gate. "Come with me."

* * *

Within moments they were back in the gate center, again entering through the yellow gate, but this time Stevenson walked off toward the blue one. He dialed mentally again, but hesitated before going through.

"You said the blue gates were reserved for experiments?" Daniel asked gingerly, sensing that he was a bit upset.

"And hazardous locations, such as this," he said as he mentally reviewed the telemetry from the other side. "We're clear."

"Where are we going?" Daniel asked, suddenly nervous.

"Fin, O, Nas, Tar ,Ta, Rush."


	5. Chapter 5

Daniel stepped through the blue gate at the telekinetic prodding of Stevenson and arrived first into darkness. Only the light of the event horizon and the blue chevrons on the gate gave his feet a visible target as he hesitantly moved forward. When the Alterran stepped through a few seconds later the small room in which they stood suddenly came to life, powering up a vast array of surveillance equipment in what looked to be a copy of the _Tria_'s bridge.

Foremost of all the visual splendor was a floating hologram of a dense star system in front of several observation screens directly opposite the gate. The numerous planets within the system were surrounded by a sphere made up of small red dots.

"What is this place?" Daniel asked.

"An observation station," Stevenson said, reviewing the most recent logs.

"Observing what?" Daniel asked, trying to piece it all together. Something about the address sounded familiar, but he couldn't quite place it.

"This system is near the core of Avalona," Stevenson explained as he continued to work the consoles. "It contains 52 planets along with 76 moons and is one of the densest systems in the galaxy. Originally we had intended it for our own use, but circumstances led us to designate it for another purpose."

Stevenson brought up a visual display of one of the planetoids, a green-white world with obvious signs of civilization scattered across its surface. He zoomed in the surveillance footage until Daniel's eyes went wide with shock. "You have got to be kidding me?"

"Not at all…and do not mistake them for mere beasts. Jurassic Park didn't do them justice."

"They're intelligent?" Daniel asked as he watched live footage of a group of long-necked dinosaurs walking through a series of arches outlining a corridor within a massive city.

"Very," Stevenson said without any hint of levity. "They are called the Lovakora…a conglomeration of twelve races along with numerous subspecies. They were the dominate power in Avalona when the Alterra originally settled in this galaxy, yet they controlled less than 1% of its territory. Those systems that they did possess were spread far apart, cherry-picked by the Lovakora for the worlds that best suited them. This provided more than enough free space for us to inhabit without crossing their path. In the end, however, that didn't prove to be true. A few thousand years after we colonized Dakara the Lovakora came into conflict with one of our allies. We intervened…and a galactic war ensued."

"Dinosaurs?" Daniel asked, still not believing it.

"When the war began," Stevenson continued, ignoring his rhetorical question, "our fleet was small, but we had a significant technological advantage that kept us alive. We had hoped to defend ourselves and our allies and force the Lovakora to abandon the war…but we quickly discovered that wasn't an option. The nature of the Lovakora is one that doesn't tolerate opposition. Once they enter battle, the fighting doesn't end until the enemy is completely annihilated. They will accept nothing less."

"Surely there must have been some diplomatic recourse?" Daniel argued.

Stevenson shook his head. "You underestimate them greatly, Dr. Jackson. They will tolerate no rivals. Even when they were on the edge of total defeat their resolve did not slacken…and it took us over a thousand years to overcome their hold on this galaxy."

"In the end we decided not to wipe them out completely, though that seemed to be the only logical recourse. Instead, we devised an end to the war that would give them a second chance at survival."

Stevenson pointed at the holographic map. "They were banished to Tar, Ta, Rush, never again to leave under pain of death. We didn't negotiate the terms of the armistice with them. Even as they faced total defeat they would not consider us worthy enough for communication. At the time we believed they only accepted the armistice in order to give themselves a chance to rebuild their forces and attack us again. Knowing this, we established a network of satellites around the system that marks the limit of their allowed movement, as well as establishing a jamming field that blocks all incoming and outgoing transmissions."

"Wait a minute," Daniel said, holding up a hand for him to stop. "Tar-Ta-Rush…" he said aloud, thinking it through. "Tar-Tar-Ush…Tartarus. This is Tartarus, from Greek mythology, where the Olympians imprisoned the Titans in the underworld…" Daniel hesitated as it finally sunk in. "The Dinosaurs are the Titans…twelve species, twelve Titans?"

"Twelve dominant species," Stevenson corrected him. "There are many more that serve under them. They use another one of those forms of government that Avalon isn't familiar with," Stevenson said, referring to their previous conversation. "The best analogy I can give you is that of the Covenant in Halo…though the Lovakora share power more between the species than the Prophets allowed."

"Ah, I'm sorry…Halo?" Daniel asked.

Stevenson frowned. "You've never played Halo?"

"I'm not even sure what it is," Daniel admitted.

"It's a video game," Stevenson told him. "There were weekly tournaments in the SGC."

Daniel shrugged. "I never cared for games. I was always more into books and artifacts."

Stevenson rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Anyway, by the end of the war the Alterra were left in the default position of galactic stewardship…which we never relented. The surviving Lovakora were relocated to this system and have remained here ever since."

Daniel looked at the holographic map. "And the satellites keep them in?"

"No," Stevenson said menacingly. "The promise of total annihilation should they ever violate the armistice has kept them here."

"Well what's keeping them in now?" Daniel asked. "With the Alterra gone they should have…"

"And you thought Avalona was safe," Stevenson reminded Daniel, sensing that he'd finally caught on.

"They don't know what happened," Daniel said, almost in a whisper. "They still think the Alterra control this galaxy."

Stevenson nodded. "That's the only reason I can think of that they would still be here. With the blackout in place they have no knowledge of outside events…and if they sent even so much as a probe past the satellites it would break the armistice and we would kill them all."

"How big of a threat are they?" Daniel asked, looking at the visual images of the Lovakora on one of their prison worlds.

"Haven't you been listening?" Stevenson rebuked him.

"I mean now," Daniel clarified.

Stevenson ground his teeth. "This citadel orbits the central star in what is a trinary system. The abundance of stellar energy is what feeds the satellites and keeps them operational. This space station gathers the energy and redirects it periodically to the jamming net. Fortunately the citadel's backup generators are also stellar powered, or the station would have shut down long ago, and with it the blackout. When I first came here a few months ago I found the Potentia depleted. I've since replaced it and the citadel's monitoring equipment is now back to full capacity. The first thing I did once power was restored was to have the computer compile an updated report."

"Initially 16 of the 128 planetoids were habitable," Stevenson continued. "Now they all are, and are filled to the brim with Lovakora…with estimates placing their total population at over three trillion."

"Oh my god," Daniel commented, feeling the pit of his stomach sink.

"Initially, this system wasn't abundant in naquada and other materials essential to the creation of advanced technology, so it wasn't theorized that they would be able to build up a sizeable force to challenge us again…but in the millions of years that have passed they have upgraded their technology with an eye towards creating alternative compounds to those that they are lacking. Their power generators are using a compound unknown to the Alterra, which I believe is some type of synthetic construction created through combinations of available resources…much like how a metallic alloy is stronger than its constituent parts."

Daniel stared him in the eye. "So they've become far stronger than you ever imagined they would?"

"We weren't here to keep an eye on them…and to be honest, even their current strength wouldn't be something we couldn't have countered at the time the plague hit us…but now, if they discover that we're no longer here to contain them, there's nothing that I can do to stop them. Not yet, anyway."

"How advanced is their technology compared to Earth's…or the Asgard's?"

"Avalon can't compare," Stevenson said with a hint of disgust. "And given the advancements they've made in the interim…they may have even surpassed the Asgard."

"Oh, this is bad," Daniel commented.

"You see now why I need the Jaffa to back us up?" Stevenson asked pointedly. "And there are even more lethal threats in Avalona than the Lovakora…just none this large."

"More lethal?" Daniel asked, questioning his own hearing.

"Not all threats vie for galactic domination," Stevenson reminded him. "Some prefer to remain hidden…waiting for you to cross their paths. There are some so powerful and so unusual that we quarantined them rather than face them in battle. However, the Lovakora do vie for galactic domination…which makes them the largest threat within Avalona. Then take into account all the possible extra-galactic threats…"

"And you need as big a defense force as you can get," Daniel said, seeing the logic. "Do the Jaffa know about them?" he asked, pointing to the monitor.

"No one does," Stevenson said, eyeing Daniel. "And I want it to stay that way. I don't want to distract them from their current assignments, especially given the fact that there's nothing the Jaffa could do in the here and now against that," he said, also referring to the real-time images of the Lovakora.

"Are you sure that's wise," Daniel asked, thinking. "I've found that sometimes the threat of mutually assured destruction can be a great incentive for cooperation," he said with just a hint of sarcasm.

"Temporary cooperation," Stevenson corrected him. "The Jaffa united to defeat the Goa'uld, then split apart into competing factions after the threat was eliminated. I want a unified force to safeguard this galaxy, not one cobbled together out of immediate need."

"Point taken," Daniel said, staring at the displays. "Who's the dominate race in the Lovakora? The T-Rex I suppose?"

Stevenson shook his head. "The Atla are a subspecies to the Iapetus. They're used mostly as front line commanders."

"In mythology Iapetus was one of the original Titans and _Atlas_ was the offspring," Daniel said in awe. It still amazed him how much of mythology still proved to be true in the present day…even if it had become a bit distorted. "Not to mention Prometheus, Epimetheus, and Menoetius."

"All subspecies of the Iapetus," Stevenson told him, searching the surveillance data for a particular feed. He had to switch planetoids to find the appropriate species.

"These are the Iapetus," he said, bringing an extremely large dinosaur onto the screen from a top down view. "I don't believe their remains have been found on Avalon."

"Is that?" Daniel asked, pointing to a small dinosaur beside the Iapetus.

"An Atla."

Daniel's jaw dropped again at the sheer size of the creatures. "How did they come to be on Earth anyway?"

"Avalon was one of their regional capitols before we took it from them," Stevenson said warily.

"Which means it'll probably be one of the first worlds they want back," Daniel said ominously.

"Probably," Stevenson reasoned. "Hopefully I'm able to rebuild our civilization before they grow bold enough to challenge their imprisonment. If not, Avalona will fall with little resistance."

"And I suppose Pegasus and other nearby galaxies not long after that?" Daniel guessed.

"I don't think so," Stevenson countered. "The Lovakora's hyperdrive technology proved inferior during the war…and it's not like they've an opportunity to field test any upgrades."

"So you're saying they can't reach another galaxy?" Daniel asked.

"Not categorically, but there's a strong chance that's the case."

"Just for argument's sake," Daniel said offhand, "what happens if, say, a rogue Goa'uld or an explorer happens to stumble across this system?"

Stevenson didn't say anything. He just shook his head.

"Yeah, that's what I was afraid of," Daniel said, staring at the Iapetus and the hoards of smaller Lovakora flanking it. "I liked Spielberg's version better."

Stevenson placed his hand on Daniel's shoulder. "Come on," he said, mentally dialing the gate. When it came to the jump code he input that manually on the dialing device then hit the activation key. As soon as the event horizon snapped into place his communicator registered a new message.

He read the brief holographic text message then deactivated the device. "There's a medical emergency on Atlantis. We have to return at once."


End file.
